Slip and Fall Information Needed for Injury In a Grocery Store...

by Tanya
(Louisville. KY)

I need some slip and fall information for the following case: I was at a grocery store and as I was walking down the aisle I slipped on something wet.

I went to the hospital and the store's lawyer contacted me. He offered $850 for pain and suffering and to pay my doctor bills, which were $1,268. My injury was soft tissue damage.

I was trying to see if I should hire a lawyer or if should I negotiate myself? Thanks for any help you can give.

Disclaimer: Information provided in our response is NOT formal legal advice. It is generic legal information based on the very limited information you provided. Under no circumstances should the information in our response, or anywhere else on this site be relied upon when making decisions about your case. You should always get a formal case review from a licensed attorney.

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ANSWER for "Slip and Fall Information Needed for Injury In a Grocery Store...":

If your medical bills are around $1,200 and your injuries are soft tissue, it is unlikely that this case would settle for more than $3,600 to $4,800.

You probably do not need an attorney and would have a hard time finding one to take a case with low medical bills. If you look at what you have been offered (payment of bills and $800 in pain and suffering), you are actually getting close. There is nothing that requires you to accept the first offer proposed by the store attorney and in fact, there is always a bit of room after the first offer.

In sum, I would go ahead and counter-offer closer to the high end of your case ($4,800) in hopes of settling somewhere between what you have been offered and what you would like. This should put you comfortably in the low to mid three thousand dollar range if you stick to your guns. Now, if you hire an attorney, the fee will be 33% which would then put you right back to where you are now without one.

So, I would try to negotiate this settlement on your own armed with this information. Submit your counter-offer and be firm. You will know when you are reaching their final, final, final settlement (which I would wager is not quite yet).

Best of luck.